Slings & Arrows
SHA DVD0324
This darkly comic Canadian series follows the fortunes of a dysfunctional Shakespearean theatre troupe, exposing the high drama, scorching battles, and electrifying thrills that happen behind the scenes. 18 episodes/Approx. 14 hours plus bonus features/Color/Stereo Contains strong coarse language and sexual situations
In Search of Shakespeare
SHA DVD0358
He is the most famous of Englishmen, and yet our biographical knowledge of William Shakespeare has always been scant. Now Michael Wood-with the help of the Royal Shakespeare Company and many other insightful experts- unravels the mysteries, to tell the story of the great bard. His times: He lived through the Spanish Armada, the Gunpowder Plot, the colonization of the New World and England's Cultural Revolution. His politics: In Elizabeth I's police state the bitter Catholic-Protestant feud dogs his life. His youth: His father's ruin forces the 14 year-old to leave grammar school and go to work. His loves: A father at 18, an infatuation with an aristocratic teenage boy and a passionate sexual affair with a married dark-skinned musician. His lost years': What turned Shakespeare from an efficient jobbing playwright into the best writer anyone had ever seen? His career: How he left the Queen's Men to make his fortune in London, established the Globe and made his name "for all time". His plays: From inn courtyard to royal court- what his plays meant to his actors, his audience and his wallet. DVD/240 minutes/color